nomads – Page 6 – RVing With a Purpose

Manatees, Sea Turtles and Hiking

March 16, 2026

We left Flamingo Campground in the Everglades on February 25th to reposition to Ocala for another RV gathering. Since we had an extra day before we were due at our friend’s campsite, we made a couple of stops on the way. The first was a quick stop at the Oasis Visitor Center in the Big Cypress National Preserve to stretch our legs walking on the boardwalk and watching the wildlife (mostly alligators).

Oasis Visitor Center of Big Cypress National Preserve

Then as we approached Tampa we saw a listing for the Tampa Electric Manatee Viewing Center. That sounded like an interesting stop. We expected a small, quiet area to rest a little while and see some manatees. We were surprised that we had happened on one of the top 10 free attractions in the country selected by USA today in 2025. Apparently, many other people knew this. Traffic was backed up and we were immediately directed to overflow parking. After spending a couple of hours there we agree that it is worthy of the rating.

The Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Center is located near the Manatee Viewing Center so we visited it while there.

As we approached Ocala, Anne was looking for something to do before we parked for the night at Cracker Barrel. In her search she found the Ocala Wetland Recharge Park. Another great place to hike. We also spent about an hour there talking to the manager about RVing, NOMADS, and how the park was built to help refill the Florida aquifers with clean water.

The Ocala Wetland Recharge Park is a real hidden gem for hiking. We had a great conversation with the manager while there.

Since we had a few days at our friend’s RV site, we took a day to spend at Silver Springs State Park which was only a few miles away.

Since we had just done a kayak trip we just watched the kayakers in Silver Springs while we hiked.

We did the glass bottom boat ride several years ago.

While staying at our friends RV site, our friend in the neighboring site was testing and programming an autonomous robot lawnmower. That was fun to watch.

December 2025 at Gulf State Park

January 29, 2026

As has become our tradition we spent the month of December, 2025 (and a few days in January, 2026) at Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The weather was not a nice as it has been in other years but we still enjoyed our “sabbath month.” With lots of hiking, biking and geocaching on the miles of trails we had a great time. One of our favorite things to do in the park is to look for wildlife.

… a Great Blue Heron beside our campsite …

… Lefty – the famous Gulf State Park alligator …

We are sure there were eggs in the nest. After we left, people posted pictures of two eaglets.

As a special treat this year we were given the opportunity to help finish an outdoor raptor enclosure for the owls, hawk and kestrel kept at the nature center and used for educational programs.

Max planing down a door to fit the opening

Anne and Ron in the workshop cutting lumber for the enclosure

A shelter box we helped build for the enclosure.

This is a transport box on which the naturalist needed a sliding door installed.

We also enjoyed several activities (and food) around the area, the best was when Barry and Donna came to visit.

We really enjoyed the visit from Barry and Donna.

This year we even made a visit to the famous Bamahenge.

We attended the Christmas program at Gulf Shores Methodist Church

And watched the annual Christmas parade of boats

An interesting neighbor for a couple of nights. It is a famous 1956 Diamond T fitted with a camper.

We cooked up the last of the halibut we brought from Vermont.

Like last year we worked a few pieces of this puzzle on each day of Advent.

Our annual traditional Christmas portrait

Once again we enjoyed the annual First Day Hike at the park.

Catching Up Again

Saturday, December 13, 2025

Hello everyone. Seems it’s been over a month since we last gave you an update. We have been here, there and everywhere and kept thinking we would get a post uploaded but it just hasn’t happened. Sorry. What follows is a synopsis of what’s been going on with us.

We left our work in Ashville and spent five days in Lexington, KY with some Impact Maker friends at the Kentucky Horse Park. We met some new friends, human and animal (beautiful horses) in a beautiful setting.

The horse drawn trolley ride at the park

From Kentucky, we went to a Switch Crew Founders Club (SCFC) event at Talona Ridge RV Resort in Elijay, Georgia. We love Talona Ridge and enjoyed more time with friends. It was more than just fun as we spent a good deal of time planning the next 12-18 months for the organization.

Sunday moring worship is always a highlight of the Switch It Up events.

Some of our friends dressed up for Halloween

One night we were treated to a 1920’s style mystery play.

Sunset at Talona Ridge with some of the Christmas lights.

From there we returned to Alabama for a little time at our home church and Camp Sumatanga and doctor and dental appointments. We finally got to meet our new pastor, Mark Puckett, in person. So thankful for him and always thankful for time with our Lester Memorial family.

In between our two events at Talona Ridge, we made a quick trip back to Alabama for medical appointments. While there we took time to hike to the top of the mountain at Sumatanga with Donna and Barry.

After a brief week in Alabama we were back at Talona for a gathering of other friends and YouTube influencers, Cindy and Harold Strange and family. It was another fun time of renewing friendships packed in three days.

This was our second year to attend the 1 Strange Adventure Gathering.

Then it was time to return to Randy and Debra’s home in Johnston, SC. We went to Gaffney, SC for two days for Fred’s annual checkup. Thankfully, no problems were found and we spent the remainder of our time enjoying catching up with our family. Debra and Anne enjoy preparing lots of good food for the family Thanksgiving and Max and Randy always have projects to complete. It was nice to have some time to just relax.

Of course, we had another great Thanksgiving week with family in South Carolina.

We spent a few days clearing out a few more trees around the house.

Randy’s new grapple sure makes cleaning up trees easier.

We are so very thankful for the time we have had with friends and family over the last several months. We still have more of you to see and we will be working on that in 2026. We are currently in Gulf Shores, AL and will try to keep things more up to date. May God Bless You All and keep you safe!

Asheville, NC Disaster Rebuild – Week 3

November 3, 2025

Week Three of the NOMADS Asheville Disaster Rebuild had us welcoming Les to the team after we said goodbye to Anne, Dale, Cliff and Ann, leaving us with 5 hard working NOMADS for this week. Angela and Jake continued to be big assets to our team but we will miss Anne and Ann and Cliff and Dale.

We returned to Kim and Nick’s home Monday and worked the entire week there. They have been a joy to work with. They are both hard working. It’s always so nice to have the homeowners working alongside. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Jake and Angela completed the installation of all the flooring and most of the baseboard while the rest of the team worked on drywall and other tasks.

Jake and Angela were our Fantastic Flooring Team this week.

Les getting the last corner ready for drywall

Anne spent most of the week finishing drywall, yet still had time to help everyone else with their tasks and visit with the homeowners.

On Thursday, we began the installation of the new windows, completing two of them. Since there was very little window casing on site, Jake and Les used what was available to make one example trim setup for the other windows. Les spent some time preparing to lead the team for the next few weeks. We made sure he met Jordan, UMC construction coordinator, and Danielle, the construction coordinator for Rebuild Haywood, the county where we are working, and our contacts at the church. We and Angela and Jake completed our services in Asheville and departed Friday. We pray that Wes and the incoming team members have a wonderful time of service and most importantly that they stay safe.